Sheffield is still regarded as the Steel City, renowned for its heritage and reputation in steel production. After the city’s post-war manufacturing decline, the 80s witnessed an industrial revolution of information, and leading the way for British videogames were Alligata Software, Gremlin Graphics and a host of bedroom coders emerging from her womb. Mark Aldrich and John Wigglesworth were the first, writing text adventures from a leafy Sheffield suburb.

They created a range of games for the ZX Spectrum including text adventures The Village of Death, Castle of Doom and Operation Roman Gaul, along with arcade game Missile Command and a set of gambling simulators, in their Gambler’s Compendium.

Missing for over 35 years, Mark Aldrich has kindly allowed his only surviving copies of the software to be digitally archived and made available for public release.